'Idol' L.A. and San Antonio auditions: The recap

Jan. 31, 2013
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by Brian Mansfield, Special for USA TODAY

by Brian Mansfield, Special for USA TODAY

It's the final week of American Idol auditions, and what has appeared to be a lackluster field of contestants finally started to shape up Wednesday. Auditions from San Antonio and Long Beach gave Idol viewers some singers to root for.

Apparently, Sunday's the day to go to San Antonio if you want to hear music, because two of the city's most promising contestants - Vincent Powell and Cristabel Clack - both work as worship ministers. Another singer, Victoria Acosti, brought a little mariachi flavor to the auditions - she works on the city's Riverwalk as a mariachi singer, though she first auditioned with Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry.

San Antonio also yielded two of the most surprisingly excellent auditions: One from Sanni M'mairura, a self-assured, Swahili-speaking 16-year-old whose parents are from Kenya and Tanzania; the other from Adam Sanders, an emotional 19-year-old whose gospel-packed performance of I'd Rather Go Blind shocked the judges, and probably most viewers, too.

The Los Angeles/Long Beach auditioned offered several compelling voices - and stories to go with them. Matt Farmer was supposed to have been rendered sterile after an accident in Iraq, but he attended the audition with his 3-year-old daughter. Micah Johnson suffered nerve damage during a botched tonsillectomy but still nailed a version of the Zac Brown Band's Chicken Fried that had judge Keith Urban singing along with him.

Matheus Fernandes and Briana Oakley both suffered severe bullying at their schools - Fernandes because of his height, Oakley because of her singing and TV appearances. (Actually, both singers have TV appearances in their backgrounds: Oakley on Maury's Most Talented Kids, Fernandes on The Glee Project.)

Kimberly Rachel Hale and Shubha Vedula didn't have as much of their stories told, but their voices spoke volumes. Hale's a confident country singer, while Vedula's a Christina Aguilera fan with serious chops that even her impressive audition may not have done justice. Like Clack and Powell from San Antonio, they could go far in this season's competition.

At the end of Wednesday's show, Mariah Carey said, "Long Beach completely and totally delivered." She was dead on.